~ My World And My Life ~

You are the CSS to my HTML

2012-01-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

A blog post after a very long time! And, I never thought I would write on this. To begin with, I must first admit that the line "You are the CSS to my HTML" is not my creation. 24HoursLoot is the creator, perhaps! Ya, that was one T-Shirt with quote available on sale online. My understanding of the quote is completely different. I see HTML as the human body and its CSS as the soul which resides inside the body (HTML Body?). Just like how CSS decorates a HTML page, the soul decorates our body.

Physical body can perish (chit), but the soul can never(achit). These three, the chit, the achit and Eshwara form the three components of this universe, as per Visishtadvaitham. This is the reason why Sri Vaishnava saints carry a "Thritanda". (Advaitha saints hold ekathanda as they believe that all the above 3 are the same )

We say a person is dead if the soul has left the body. Thus, soul is the fuel for life. When the fuel is over, the life is over. Life after death is a widely debated topic. Does a person take rebirth after death? Sri Vaishnavism comes with answers for these questions very clearly. Any person on this earth undergoes a lot of sufferings in his life. Once he is granted 'moksha' by the Lord, he takes no birth and enjoys performing unlimited service to Lord.

The ultimate goal of any SriVaishnavite should be to attain salvation to reach the lotus feet of Lord. The question that arises is, what should be we do inorder to attain such a state of bliss. The answer is simple. There are two ways to reach the Lord's feet. One is "bhakti margam" (The road through devotion) and the other is "saranagathi margam"(The road through surrender).

Bhakti margam is simple to follow, but Saranagathi margam is superior to bhakti margam. But we always need to start our journey with bhakti margam which ultimately leads to saranagathi margam. So, once we have performed saranagathi, all that we need to do is, just keep waiting for our Lord to call us to grant salvation.

Once the soul is separated from the body, Lord himself shows soul the way (Archirathi margam) to reach him. The soul travels through pagal lokam, valarpirai lokam, uttharayan lokam, vayu lokam, surya mandalam, chandra mandalam, minnal lokam, varuna lokam, indira lokam, satya lokam and then reaches the viraja river to take a holy dip, and is lifted by amanavan to help him reach Vaikuntam. This is a very special thing that should happen and everyone who understands the importance of this, should keep waiting for this opportunity every moment.

Design Patterns in Hinduism…!

2011-08-06T07:54:00.001-07:00

(The design of Chariots)

“You can exploit the wisdom and lessons learned by other developers who've been down the same design problem road and survived the trip” That is how Kathy Sierra introduces the concept of Design Patterns. (Head First – Design Patterns by Kathy Sierra) It is a very interesting book that talks about a few patterns designed by GoF (The Gang of Four… Yeah they were the ones who were on the problem road mentioned earlier and survived)

And these patterns are for software developers, OO developers in particular. It would be better if there are such interesting patterns for designing our lives right? Hmmm… Yeah! Hinduism has got many such interesting patterns coupled tightly with its ideologies. (Now do not tell me that tight coupling is not preferred!) Yes, it is true.

Hinduism is not going beyond people with unshaved beards who wear a saffron dress. It is really a massive ocean. It is almost impractical to learn all grantas composed by our Poorvacharyaars. And what do the grantas teach us? They are the guiding principles that we have to follow in our lifetime. They never force us to follow them, but it is a fact that if we do, our journey on this earth becomes safer and we definitely reach the ultimate destination (just like the GoF Design Patterns)

So, the design patterns that I am focusing here are the design patterns, the principles that we need for leading our lives. Remember it is easy to understand all the 23 design patterns recommended by the GoF, but it is very difficult to understand the design patterns laid by Hinduism. They can be understood only through our poorvacharyars. (Religious gurus)

As per Hinduism, a man can attain salvation only through his acharya. It is similar to a lotus which requires water for synthesis to obtain energy from sun. It is useless if only sun shine is available. Therefore, the acharyas play a very vital role in everyone’s lives. Well, the system of education nowadays do not teach us the design patterns for our lives or the Vedas (which are all the more important)

An individual, who has great devotion for God and also his guru comprehends all the philosophic knowledge that are important. Hence, it is absolutely essential for a spiritual aspirant to show utmost devotion to his guru. As per Hinduism, failure in doing so will prevent us from attaining moksha. The ultimate objective of design patterns is to guide us attaing moksha.

-S.Srikrishnan

Why are Brahmins targeted in this society ?

2011-06-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The brahmin population in the state of Tamil Nadu is actually very less. But they are the ones who are often targeted and attacked by many. I have seen many people who start laughing when the hear the name "brahmanan". They have always categorised tamil brahmins as "Aryans" and not "Dravidians", which is actually wrong. Brahmins do speak tamil, and for 99% of them, tamil is the mother tongue and not sanskrit.

I always get exasperated when they are made fun; especially in movies. Many movies (tamil movies in particular) make a thorough mock of brahmins. There were movies released with the sole idea of criticising the brahmin culture. But know what? Before the release, they perform puja for its success, for which the producers invite brahmins to perform the puja.

Disheartening fact is that, nowadays brahmins themselves make fun of them. The brahmin slang in particular is not liked by many, Duh! That cannot be a fact to hate brahmins. There are so many dialects among which the way we speak is one. Have you ever seen any one raising voice against such wrong potrails? You probably cannot, because brahmins are always weak and not of "protesting-nature"

I really do not know how this "anti-brahmin" hatred grew, but i know for sure that the reason would be silly. It would be suitable to compare this with the way "sardarjis" are projected as fools. Its absolutely wrong to do that. In fact, they are really intelligent, hard workers, rational and patriots. Most of the army men are Sikhs and their contribution for the nation is unmatchable. Ofcourse, brahmins too have patriotism, what is known as "divya desa bhakti".

This is enough. I do not wish to say anything more on this.

Java Enabled ImageViewer

2011-01-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

Image Viewer using Java! That was one of the lab assignments we were assigned. And I tell you, it was great fun! Going through the Java documentation of various classes, appreciating the way they were developed, and trying to use them, I mean creating instances for those classes and calling methods using those instances, it took nearly 10 days to finish the job with perfection...

Graphics Programming using Java works out very well and for these simple applications its just awesome. Once you start working with this pardigm, you understand the OO concepts better. And the way the graphics components are designed in Java, My God! Hats off to those class developers.

So this is how I developed the application:

Firstly the public class ImageViewer with the static main method defined in it is written. The main method is so simple that it just creates an object for class ImageFrame, passing the command line arguments to its constructor. As you guess, the next step is to write the class ImageFrame that extends JFrame class. Its just a one-method class (the constructor alone). We set the title, size and the icon image for it. Thus the frame is ready to act as a container of JComponents. Instead of adding all the JComponents to the ImageFrame, we add a JPanel to it first, and then add the necessary JComponents on top of the JPanel.

So we create another class ImagePanel that extends JPanel class, and add it to the ImageFrame. So now the ImagePanel can hold all the other JComponents, but how do we arrange them on the panel, so that they all look neat? Yes! We gotta use an appropriate Layout Manager. We set border layout to it. To the north we shall add the text boxes for displaying the file and the zoom percent (a little later), and in the south a JToolBar that shall contain all the buttons for the ImageViewer. It is not made floatable so that its location in the window is static.

In the center of the ImagePanel comes another JPanel that acts as the container of the Image that has to be displayed. Since drawing an image in a panel is little tedious, we add a JLabel to it with no text. To display the image, we just gotta set the icon for JLabel.

We pass the command line arguments from the ImageViewer class to ImageFrame class, which in turn goes to the ImagePanel class. We check if the command line input has a file that can be opened and if so, the icon is set for the JLabel (as mentioned in the previous para). For the sake of formality, we add the tooltips to all the buttons on the panel. Now that the buttons have only the image icon and not any action command, we try to set the action commands for all the buttons, so that it easy to capture the action events generated in the action listener.

So, the next step is to add action listeners to all the buttons on the tool bar. So we develop a class ToolListener that implements ActionListener interface. We pass a reference object of the JPanel we were using (ImagePanel) so that all its class members are accessible through the reference. Lets now move our focus to the Listener class. In the constructor we assign the reference object of the ImagePanel class. We define what action is to be done on those button clicks in the actionPerformed method. We also design a class ImageFile, that will have objects describing the image in use in the application, that is the File object in use, the image object in use and the zoom percent of the image. Let us mark them static so that it is accessible from all the classes (globally).

We also design a filter class ImageFilter that extends javax.swing.filechooser.FileFilter and implements java.io.FileFilter. Its just to override the methods accept and getDescription. Let us also define few static methods that operate on these objects, so that they can simply be called from differenct classes.

Let us now see how all the functional requirements are implemented in the action listener:

1. Load image from the file system:

Simply use the JFileChooser object of the swing package. Set the file filter using the object of class ImageFilter (will be explained shortly). Display the open dialog and get the selected file object. Call the static loadImage method of the ImageFile class (Now the job is over).

2. Save image to the file system:

Again we use the JFileChooser class, but dislplay the save dialog instead of open. As you expect, the file object is used to save the image. We use the file stream classes for the copy operation (FileInputStream and FileOutputStream).

3. Delete the image being viewed from the file system:

This is the most easiest task. (Destructive jobs seem to be easier!) Using the static image file object and call the delete method of the File class.

4. Refresh the display:

Since the display is on a panel, we call the repaint method using its object. As simple as that!

5. Zoom :

We call the static rescale method of the ImageFile class passing the rescale factor. Now what do we do in the rescale method is the question. Pay little attention here. Create a new BufferedImage object with the new height and width using the rescale factor. Create a graphics object using the image and alter the image using the drawImage method of the Graphics class. To make it more clear, here is the sentence for it:

g.drawImage(image, 0, 0,(int)(width*resizeFactor) ,(int)(height*resizeFactor),0,0,width,height, null);

6. Slideshow and pause:

Since this requirement has got something to do with time, we comfortably use threads. So to create a thread, let us define another class Slideshow that extends Thread class, and simply override the run method. In the run method, we examine the directory where the display image is, and simply list all the image files from the directory (Use the ImageFilter again for this). Use an enhanced loop to get an image and sleep for 5 seconds (5000 milli seconds in fact!). We load the image as long as a boolean variable stopThread reads true. We set it false using requestStop method of this class in order to pause.

7. Load first, next, previous and last images:

These are done by those static methods that examine the directory and use a ArrayList of File objects to load the next or previous or index 0 or last index image.

8. Change Background color:

We use the JColorChooser class that returns the color object. Using the referencePanel object and the setBackground method, we implement this.

9. Close:

We take extra care to first make the panel invisible and then exit (System.exit(status);).

P.S. This is my first technical blog :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Cosmic Ocean...

2010-10-24T04:06:00.001-07:00

(Image of the universe released by ESA)

(Milky Way - our galaxy)

Our universe consists of many billions of galaxies. “Milky Way” alias Cosmic Ocean is one such galaxy where our earth, moon and the entire solar system consisting of all planets and billions of stars including the Sun are located. There are further billions of galaxies unknown to the astronomers! Each such galaxy contains billions of stars like in Milky Way.

Our Milky Way galaxy takes the shape of a “Conch shell”. There are cyclical involutions at the center point of the galaxy similar to the conch shell. The outer portion of the galaxy looks like a flat disc (chakram). Hence this galaxy is also known as Spiral Galaxy.

Sun is the embodiment of Sudarsana Chakram which is believed to give light equivalent to millions of suns. Sanghu (conch) is denoted by moon. Lord Krishna is “Shanghu-chakra dhaari” (One who holds the Chakram and Shanghu).

"சங்கொடு சக்கரமேந்தும் தடக்கய்யன்"

Sanghu is dearest to Lord Krishna as it never gets separated from him and it also enjoys the privilege of touching the beautiful lips of lord any time he blows. Sanghu produces sound for victory and its vibration will remove our ignorance. (It is believed that Lord Krishna resides in Milky Ocean or Thirupparkadal)

The universe is like a golden egg. Our Milky Way galaxy seen above is in the center of the universe. The shape of the Universe in oval shaped egg was first brought to the notice of the astronomers by the release of ever first image of entire universe by European Space Agency (ESA). Plank, the space telescope sent last year in to the sky returned with images which were assembled by ESA to give incredible images of our Universe.

As per Sri Vaishnavism, Lord Vishnu creates preserves and destroys it finally. Similar to a spider which spits from its mouth viscous liquid to create a web net around it and finally takes it back in to its stomach, Lord Vishnu after pralayam swallows the entire universe and keeps it in his stomach.

OM is the most often chanted sound among all the sacred sounds on earth. This sound is considered as the sound of the existence. It is believed that the whole universe, in its fundamental form, is made up of vibrating, pulsating energy. Om is considered as the humming sound of this cosmic energy.

OM is the sound which is not the result of the striking of two objects. It rather emanates on its own. It is the primal sound of the universe that contains all sounds in itself. This sound of OM produces instant positive vibrations and takes the listener to a state of mental stillness.

Cheers!!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

When The Sunrises…..

2010-06-11T04:21:00.000-07:00

Will there be life without the phenomenon of sunrise and sunset? No isn’t it? Wonder how God has arranged all that! With extra features such as refraction of light during Dawn and Dusk! What if there is no refraction of light? Very difficult for people getting up early in the morning!

The eye’s pupil has the role of expanding and contracting the muscles to control the amount of light entering the retina. What happens to us when we leave the cinema hall?? Pupils contract to minimum size to allow minimum amount of light. This is because we might have probably been in the dark for a very long time and when we are suddenly exposed to the powerful sunlight.

But nature has overcome this problem by the phenomenon of “refraction”. Even before the actual sunrise, we are able to see shades of certain colours due to “Rayleigh’s scattering”. What if we do not have this phenomenon? Supposing the sunrise is at 6.33 am, then till 6:22:59 am, it would only be dark, and at the strike of 6.33 am, we are suddenly exposed to all the sunlight. Thus, this before-sunrise-scattering benefits us a lot. And this is the reason why we are advised to get up early in the morning, before dawn!

Thus, Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight.

Gone are the days when sun was helping people to distinguish mornings and evenings. And gone are the days when sun was the source of most intense light on earth. It is now called “LASER”. However intense LASER may be, Sun is not replaceable by artificial ones. Also, it is obviously impossible to produce a source with lasing action, of diameter of that of the sun. Thus, God’s creations are always unmatchable.

There is an interesting and a small episode in Mahabharata in Aranya Parva (The book of the forest) where there is a discussion about sunrise. It is called the “Yaksha-Prasnam” (Questions of Yaksha). It is a dialogue between Yudhishthira and Yama, the lord of Death who disguises as a Yaksha. In this Yudhishthira gives amazing and enlightening answers to very difficult questions asked by Yama.

In the very first question (out of 124), Yaksha questions about sunrise. The question is “What is the cause for sunrise?”, and the reply is “Brahmam (God) is the cause for sunrise”. The meaning is that, God is the ultimate, sunrise and sunset are under his control and so is any other natural phenomenon. It is said that, Lord Rama wanted to kill Ravana just for the reason that Ravana had taken the control of sunrise and sunset and created nuisances to the worldly beings.

However, the above explanation is not given always. The correct explanation goes here. When Yaksha talks about sunrise, it is the not the actual sunrise that is being talked about, but it refers to the rise of knowledge within us. In the answer, as Brahmam is being referred to, it is not the actual Brahmam, but the Vedas that are being called as Brahmam. Thus, what makes the knowledge within us to rise? They are the Vedas that make the real knowledge in each person to rise.

It is up to each person to make the sun within him to rise. As Swamy Vivekananda said, “AWAKE, ARISE AND ACHIEVE”.

Cheers ;)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

I do not have Rs. 5..What if I have to pay ??

2010-05-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

It was the last exam to be cleared, one of the best moments of life. [:)] With each one narrating their holiday plans, I forgot the things that had to be taken inside the examination hall. The air was filled with happiness while each one took turns to talk. One said, "At last am gonna leave a NOT gate and enter into a ground pin", while other said "Am now held up with the busy pin [:'(], but I shall enter the co-processor's pin in a week" and so on...

While discussing this, we formed our favourite circle of great importance with great care. It was of great importance as there was a condition imposed. Students who traveled in the same bus must not sit closer! [:O] Or else, they would attract each other and the favourite circle would collapse. After-all, all electrons like us carry charge. There was a red arrow board on top of every one's head to indicate the charge direction. [:P] People belonging to the same bus had arrow marks in the same direction and there were only 3 buses available : (Address Bus, Control Bus and Data Bus [:P] [:P])

It was decided at 9.30 am to start the preparations for the examinations. [:D]. And at 9.45 the examiners had decided to open the doors of the exam halls and asked us to enter the hall. Oh My God !! What a tense moment then!! [:O] I did not have the ID-Card, nor did I have the hall ticket, the blue pen, the pencil....nothing was with me. The roll numbers were counted one by one. By the time I realized my foolishness, the number was 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px1 3py1 3pz1 . Mine was 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px2 3py2 3pz2 4s1 . So just 4 away !! I left my things in my bus. The address bus. [:O] [:O] Oh My God !!!!

Adding to this tension at the last minute, I realized I did not get the HOD seal on the record. Oh yeah It was a practical examination. What do I do now? Go to the Vcc pin and ask our HOD for the sign?? Impossible. She would not sign at any cost! [:(]. That is okay! I made up my mind and I signed (Not mine...Hers..[:P]) Thank god i used the temporary registers to sign her name in her style during the boring class hours, that had given me enough practice. *Sigh* looking at the signature as it was really natural. [:D]

Rushing through the crystal lattices, in a great hurry, I reached the examination hall. Sigh again. What was the status of the roll number calling? 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px2 3py2 3pz2 4s1..."Yes ma'm" I replied... Then I had to choose one of the question papers. Pick Pick Pick and yeah the 4th paper from the left. "Where would you want to sit?" she asked..."There ma'm.." I replied pointing to the very first orbit of the room. [:)] And yet another late realization - I DID NOT BRING A 5 RUPEE COIN, THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO GIVE AFTER FINISHING THE EXAM. [:O]..My mind said " Ha! Thats okay! Let me manage! And, to see the question paper and to realize that the question for me was easy was another joy. Question was funny though. (It had come from Anna University it seems [:P]).

The question was "Travel through the following ICs and explain them in detail (just 1 question I guess for 100 marks): IC 7408, IC 744078, IC7400, IC7482, IC7444". Huh! So I had to identify them correctly as Quad 2-input AND gate, 8-input OR/NOR gate, Quad 2-input NOT gate, Quad 2-input NAND gate and Excess-3 to Gray code decimal decoder respectively and write for some 40 pages in detail about these chips, the pin diagrams, the truth table and the result. Sigh again! The exams are over. I started with 7408, followed by 744078 then 7483 and then 7444 and finally 7400. WOW ! Done with all exams. So Holidays now !! [:)] [:)]

But before that there was an oral instructions - "pay rupees 5 if you cause a high, else collect 5." Wow again! lastly I had visited the NOT gate IC7400 and before entering the NOT gate input pin, the output power was high. It was a NOT gate and therefore my net output power was low. So collect Rs.5/- [:D] [:D] Tossing the 5 rupee coin onto my pocket and with high collars, I left the exam hall happily ! [:)]

Wow !! What a dream ! Kudos to the NOT gate that earned me Rs.5/- [:P] No more sleep. Switch on the modem. Log onto Facebook. Look at the notifications for some stupid comments. Then Blogspot and post !! [:)] Here it is....

CHEERS !! [:)]

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

We gotta learn from animals...

2010-03-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

Animals are just living creatures. They have not got what is called as 'Commom Sense', the sixth sense, which the humans have. This might possibly be the attitude of a common man. But let me tell you, We gotta learn a lot from animals...from animals and birds of every kind!

1. Elephants

Being such lovely, cute and gigantic figures, they teach us the humanitarian aspects of life. Whenever an elephant comes across a dead body of another elephant, it automatically sheds tears to mourn. We gotta learn this from elephants!

2. Eagles

With sharp eyes and beautiful flight, eagles teach us how to be focussed and determined in life. Eagles have the capability to catch its prey even from a very great height. We gotta learn this from eagles.

3. Tortoise

They might be too slow with their movements, but they do hide their limbs when it fears an enemy attack and pretends to be a rock. Similarly, we must hide all the enemies present within us, namely anger, jealousy, stinginess , temptations etc. to take forward steps in life. We gotta learn this from tortoises.

4. Swan

White and Beautiful! You can always expect a swan to take only milk from a mixture of milk and water. Likewise, we need to analyse the good and bad aspects of everything we come across in life and take only the necessary ones. We gotta learn this from swans.

5. Parrots

Do they not echo the exact words spoken to it? Then, should we not learn to talk and practice only what is told to us by our parents. We gotta learn this from parrots.'

"Love for animals is love for God!"

CHEERS :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Divide and Conquer....

2010-03-04T07:02:00.001-08:00

It was high time for Lord Vishnu to incarnate on this material world, for the respect that children paid to parents had declined, the devils brain had increased all over, and the sufferings of the people in the world had also increased.

" Parithranaaya sadhunam vinasaya ca dushkrutham

dharma sampsthapanarthaya sambavami yuge yuge "

(- Bagavath Gita)

(For the protection of the devotees and the annihilation of the miscreants and to fully establish righteousness, he appears millennium after millennium). He descends, so that we all ascend. Thus after Parasurama avataram, he decided to incarnate as Rama.

Knowing this, there was a great competition among the different 'nakshatrams' (constellations) and 'thithis' as to who should take position in the galaxy during His advent on earth. The star 'Punarvasu' was lucky enough as it got its path cleared. Lord chose this to say that he would be the son of "vasudevar" in the next avtar. The thithis 'Ashtami','Navami' are not considered good. To fulfill their wishes, Lord agreed to advent on Navami Day, promising Ashtami in the next avataram. Thus we get chance to celebrate 'RamaNavami' and 'GokulaAshtami'.

Thus, the next issue to be addressed was the clan in which he had to take birth. Rightly, he chose the 'Ikshvahu' clan based at Ayodhya, the king being Dasaratha. He did so because the statue of Lord Ranganatha was with that kingdom and he wanted to serve him.

Then, he had to choose his mother, among the 3 wives of King Dasaratha. He chose "Kousalya" the senior among all. Generally, parents pray for having good children with them, but with Lord, it is the opposite.

While all this was taking place at Vaikuntam, there were other developments at Ayodhya. King Dasaratha was performing the "puthra kameti" yagam. The outcome of the yagam would be "pal payasam" that he had to give to his 3 wives - Koushalya, Kaikei and Sumithra.

The following incident was a very interesting one. King Dasaratha applied the concept of DIVIDE AND CONQUER to give "pal payasam" to his wives.

We Computer Science engineers use the DIVIDE AND CONQUER technique as an algorithm to solve a few standard problems such as sorting, searching etc. Wonder how Dasaratha used Divide and Conquer...He had to give the contents of the bowl (pal payasam) to his 3 wives.

He first divided the contents of the bowl into two. He gave the first half to Kousalya, the mother of Rama, and thus conquered it.

The remaining half was again divided into two. The first half was given to Kaikei, the mother of Baratha, and thus conquered it also.

The remaining half was again divided to two. The first half was given to Sumathra, the mother of Lakshmana. After thinking for a while, the other half was also given to Sumathra, the mother of Shaturguna this time. (Laksmana and Shaturguna were twins, Lakshmana being the elder)

Now look at this algorithm -

Algorithm DAndC(P)

{

if Small(P) then return S(P);

else

{

divide P into P1 and P2;

Apply DAndC to each of them;

return Combine(DAndC(P1),DAndC(P2));

}

Is there any difference between Dasaratha's algorithm and this one? I dont think so...

And after 12 full months, were born the 4 sons for King Dasaratha - Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shaturguna.

Proud to be a CS Engineering student ;)...

Cheers !!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Lightning Strikes...

2010-02-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

Lightning - "An atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms " as defined by Wikipedia. But that is not the only way I would describe lightning.

Like how every natural phenomenon like rain or sunshine is essential, lightning is also essential. When the annual rainfall decreases, it affects this ecosystem one way or the other, likewise, if no lightning occurs, this planet may have to face several consequences.

I would say, this natural phenomenon is so lovely, as tremendous energy is imparted to the earth during the process. It is estimated that, with the energy liberated with just one stroke of lightning, the entire city of Chennai could be guaranteed free power supply for a month. Surprising right? It is true!

So the next question is, why do we not use this form of energy to produce electrical energy for household and various other engineering fields. The answer is simple. It is because it is just not possible to trap that enormous amount of energy.

As the air molecules breakdown due to excess potential difference, it is not possible to transfer or even store energy in form of voltages beyond a limit. Thus, it becomes absolutely impossible to obtain energy from lightning. This could be held as the reason for the Van de Graff generators to be placed in Nitrogen atmosphere. Nitrogen gas has got a high capacity to withstand potential difference. (Implicitly it means Nitrogen has a very high dielectric constant).

We in fact create a mini form of lightning everyday in our house and workplaces. Whenever we switch on a switch; the distance between 2 parallel plates of a capacitor becomes smaller and smaller, thereby increasing the potential difference. At the point when the breakdown potential (of air) is reached, there is a small spark created which is then neutralized. In other words, the mega form of spark is a lightning.

Without lightning, the nitrogen would not be available for plants and hence the humans.

The "kodimaram" in hindu temples is constructed having the science of lightning in mind. It has sharp edges here and there. Thus, due to the action of sharp points, it can store and also spray a good amount of energy all around (CORONA DISCHARGE). That is why, temples are constructed with tall and huge 'gopurams' and 'kodimaram'.

The energy I refer to here is not the electric energy, but a form of energy vibrations that is not known to many. It is the vedic energy. The chanting of vedas transforms the sound energy to vedic energy. Thus as more number of people chant the vedas coherantly, there is a constructive interference of all sound waves and hence a greater amount of sound energy is transformed to vedic energy (I use the word transform because, energy can only be transformed not created or destroyed).

The famous tamil word "Goshti" (Group)refers to this. I do not talk about the "Goshti Poosal" in State and Central Houses of the Government. It was a holy and a great practice of our fore fathers to participate in the Goshti especially during the festivals in temples. There is a place called 'Thirukkoshtiyur' near Madurai. It is said that the rishis assembled in a Goshti to sing in praise of Krishna in that place, and hence came to be known as 'Koshti'yur.

The energy I have been mentioning about so far is the positive form of energy. It is very easy to obtain this form of energy. All we need to do is to keep our souls fresh and peaceful. We always need to think about good aspects of life. We must restrain ourselves from abusing or complaining about others. Also, we must not stay idle (Idle mind is devil's workshop). To gain more and more positive energy into ourselves, it is just enough that we stay positive all the time!!!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Love Matters !

2010-02-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

A blog after so many weeks! And that too a different topic, that I have never touched upon in any of the previous blog items - "LOVE MATTERS" And days before the Valentines Day! And I promise here that all the above statements are independent of each other.

I should definitely give such an assurance as the word "LOVE" has lost its significance and its true meaning. With half the contribution of the damage from the cine field, the rest is from the teenagers who are driven and influenced by the cine actors.

After these sentences on what the word "love" has been modified to, I want to say what it actually means to me. Love is a something that every human on this planet must have. Love for mother Earth. Love for parents, they are the best ever companions for us. Love for animals and birds. Love for mankind. Love for nature. Love for our country. Love for people around us! Love yourself. Be a true man!

Cheers :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Inspiring Indians

2009-12-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

“Inspiring Indians” – this should have been the title of my first blog! Anyways, even now it is not late.

Being an Indian is something really great! Indians have reached great heights in almost all fields and it feels very nice to type that here. A democratic and a secular country, one of the fastest growing economies, and above all, the country with so many people to encourage and inspire the present generation!

Here, I would just like to mention about a few people who have inspired me in many ways. So, here we go….

1. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Simplicity, humble in thought and noble in action! I am very particular on listening to his speeches, especially to the student community. “Rameshwaram to Rashtrapathi Bhavan” – a must read biography! Who would forget his words – “Dream dream and dream and make your dreams come true!” Salutes!

2. Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar

An Indian then a poet or a poet then an Indian? Ask this to him. Even he would not know the correct answer. (And this has become the topic for most of the Tamil debates…) “I know what I do is right, it is all for mother India”, his typical words. Even after 88 years of his death, he lives in everyone’s heart. Salutes!

3. Mr. Narendra Modi

Longest serving chief minister of Gujarat, Mr. Modi is also the best chief minister among all CMs of India. Indeed a role model for other politicians. His views on compulsory voting in elections, non-free electricity for farmers etc. are fantastic. I love the way he addresses his opponents. Salutes!

4. Dr. R.D.Sharma

Most of the engineering students forget his name after stepping into college. But for sure, they would have used his unmatched books on Mathematics in school life. I have not even seen his face on a photo, but I can tell you, this maths genius’ way of presenting different concepts on different topics is too good. I just loved the problems from his text book. It would be incomplete, if I do not mention his qualification for you to know – B.Sc. (Honors) (Gold Medalist), M.Sc. (Gold Medalist), Ph.D.!!!! Salutes!

5. Bagavath Ramanujar

A great philosopher, teacher, scholar, therapist and what not! For winning over the previous vedantha philosophies namely the Dwaita and the Adwaita to produce the third one with special qualities of both and removing the errors from them and composing the Bhashyam for “Visishta” Advaitham! The best role model for any man on this earth! Salutes!

P.S. :- Though the personalities have been listen from 1 to 5, I give equal respect and seek inspiration from everyone to the same extent !

Wishing all a very happy new year! Wishing to see India in great heights this year! Jai Hind!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

A TERRA BYTE memory!

2009-12-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

I was promised an external hard disk of memory space 1 TB by my father days ago. I was too happy about it and I even started planning how to create partitions in it to store movies, songs and my college files’ backups. 1 TB is actually more than enough for me but each time I see 1 TB as 1024 GB, I get excited and when I see each GB as 1024 Mb I still get excited.

As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention”, we required devices to store memory so that the task of remembering most of the things could be avoided. And after necessity, it got modified on its own to luxury. I say this because, we now use hard disks not only to store important information, but also for less important information like movies, games etc.

And we now have changed so much, that we now depend entirely on these memory storage devices, and any failure or a problem in retrieving data from it would irk us a lot! We even have the facility of “reminders” on mobile phones which make us lazier. “Laziness to remember things”! And is it for this reason that humans have been given a great amount of memory space in brain??

A quote from some researchers:

"The human brain contains about 50 billion to 200 billion neurons (nobody knows how many for sure), each of which interfaces with 1,000 to 100,000 other neurons through 100 trillion (10^14) to 10 quadrillion (10^16) synaptic junctions. Each synapse possesses a variable firing threshold which is reduced as the neuron is repeatedly activated. If we assume that the firing threshold at each synapse can assume 256 distinguishable levels, and if we suppose that there are 20,000 shared synapses per neuron (10,000 per neuron), then the total information storage capacity of the synapses in the cortex would be of the order of 500 to 1,000 terabytes. (Of course, if the brain's storage of information takes place at a molecular level, then I would be afraid to hazard a guess regarding how many bytes can be stored in the brain. One estimate has placed it at about 3.6 X 10^19 bytes.)"

It is the human tendency to do away with all that one has, and search for the non-available ones! Man must understand that it is absolutely impossible to compete with nature. All his inventions have their roots with nature. Seeing a bird, he invented the aero plane, seeing a human, he invented the robot, seeing a caterpillar he invented the train and so on…

Such inventions may look amazing, but the real appreciation must go only to nature!!!

Cheers :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

The 26 journey!

2009-10-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

It was the day when I had to choose a convenient bus route among the 43 available ones, for traveling all the way to college from my place, and that would be my bus for the next 4 years. I was really annoyed doing that because it was a hectic job for me, looking into each bus route and then finding that it would not suit me.

Moving my eyes down, I reached bus 25, the Triplicane bus, and then Sekar Emporium bus which is the bus 26! As, was looking at the stops available in that route, I was astonished to see a stop named “Perthavan Street”! There is no such street anywhere in Mambalam.

Then, it was my mother who took time to interpret it and convince me that it was “Brindavan Street” and not Perthavan. As, the street is just parallel to mine, I was very much happy as it wouldn’t take time for me to walk to the stop, early in the morning as the bus time mentioned was 6.37 am.

After a few days of ragging, and well defined relationship with bus seniors, we had the Bus Treat! We were had to the Dhabba Express, Nungambakkam. A day not to be forgotten! By then all first years had developed very good comradeship and never even had enough time to exhaust all the energy to enjoy during the journey.

By the end of the year (2k8), study holidays had commenced for the seniors, and it was perhaps the perfect time for us to enjoy. And we did. Days before Diwali, we could reach home only by 8 in the night due to a human chain protest in Chennai, and each one of us still love to remember those “golden” days.

There has never been a day when we felt bored of the bus journey. Intriguing arguments are a common feature. Prominent ones are those arguments against Vijay, some related to studies, football (I am inert to it) Indian architecture, politics and what not….

At times, there would be great discussions on subject matters when each one would present his view very strongly. Very interesting it would be. I still remember the day when there was a discussion on network theorems and it had consumed the entire return journey. Dumb charades at times would also add to our glee.

On the whole, I am very lucky to be a part of Bus 26 with PJ, RamC, Venky, OG, AKJ, VSR and GV. Cheers mates!!! Cheers !!!!

-∫.∫rikrishnan

Am I the doer or an instrument?

2009-10-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite topics of discussion with my cousins and friends is this – “Am I the doer or the instrument”.

All the worldly things can be classified under on of the following 3 things – Chit, Achit and Eshwara. Chit refers to materials with knowledge, like our soul, whereas Achit are the things that have got no knowledge with them naturally like the human body. “Eshwara” refers to the Almighty. This is the basic principle of Visishtadvaitham, and that is the reason why visishtadvaitha sanyasis hold a staff called “Thruthanda” [ Advaitha saints hold ekathanda as they believe that all the above 3 are the same ! ]

As the soul resides in our body, it the combination of them that make us work. Now, when I perform an action, definitely God knows it is. He also knows how a person will lead his life. Therefore, is our life pre-determined? Or since there are Karmas (good and bad deeds in one’s life) accumulated as per our acts, is our life not pre-determined?

So there starts a debate as to whether I am made to act by God i.e. I am an instrument or are my actions independent of God’s will i.e. I am the doer.

As I said earlier, it is the combination of both the soul and the body that makes us do our work. So the soul for our body is a gift given by God! It is acting as a tool to perform many tasks. Without the soul, I may not be able to read or write blogs. So in this case, we are only instruments and not the doers of anything because this soul does not belong to my body. Lord Krishna says this in the 11^th chapter of Bagavath Gita.

But then what happens to all my actions? In case I slap someone and say that I am only an instrument and not the doer of that action will it become right on my part? Then what will happen to all the good and bad deeds of mine? I am supposed to experience for all my sins. So in that case I am only the doer of the actions and not an instrument. Lord Krishna also talks about this in Bagavath Gita.

But when I agree that I am responsible for all my actions, why at all should there be God? Why should I be dependent on him? I can be independent. Here comes the conflict. So am I the doer or the instrument?

So here is the conclusion. I am the performer, but all my actions are dependent on God. My actions have got no absolute independence. It is a dependent independence. Take an example of a company where a CEO has the full control. He has control over every person in the company. But he cannot decide on the action of every single individual worker. Does that mean the workers are independent and can do any work they like? Thus they are given some independence which is what I call as dependent independence. Therefore I am an instrument as well as the doer.

I am a doer because I have got the independence to do certain things, and I am an instrument because I have got independence to do only certain things! Hope you get the meaning right here.

Similarly, though God has full control over me, he will not control on all my actions. Therefore, I also need to take responsibility over the things that God does not take care of. I need to perform good deeds; only then this cycle of birth and death is broken.

Therefore, I am solely responsible for the present condition of my life, which depends on the deeds that I performed in my previous birth. It does not depend purely on the deeds of my present life. A child may be born rich, but does it mean it has done all good deeds in its present life?

So, to have a better life, or to break up from the continuous birth-death cycle, we need to perform certain good deeds. What could be the good deeds then? Lord Krishna also gives answer to these questions in Bagavath Gita. He says that the only way to attain his lotus feet is “Bhakhthi” or devotion to him.

So lets be his true devotees and perform all good deeds!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

திருவரங்க யாத்திரை

2009-10-09T03:40:00.000-07:00

முன்பு திருவரங்கம் சென்றோம். அதன் விஷயமானதே இது. திருவரங்கம் என்னும் ஸ்ரீரங்கம் என்றாலே மனதில் ஒரு உற்சாகம்! திருவரங்கம் அடைய முதலிலே திருச்சிராப்பள்ளிக்கு பயணம் செய்ய வேண்டும். அதற்கு "ROCKFORT EXPRESS" ரயில் வண்டி. மாம்பலத்தில் புறப்பட்டு திருச்சி வரை செல்லும் ரயில் அது. மாம்பலத்திற்கு "போய் வருகிறேன்" என்று சொல்லிக்கொண்டு ரயிலிலே ஏறினோம்!

படுத்து எழுந்தால் திருச்சி வந்துவிடும்! அங்கிருந்து பேருந்தில் பயணம் செய்தால் ஸ்ரீரங்கம் என்ற என்னதோடே உறக்கம். ரயிலும் புறப்பட்டது. திருவரங்கத்தை தாண்டியே திருச்சி. ஆகவே திருவரங்கம் ராஜகோபுரத்தை அங்கிருந்தே காணலாம். மின் விளக்குகளால் அலங்கரிக்க்பபட்ட அழகிய கோபுரம்! இத்தேசத்தின் மிக பெரிய கோபுரம்!

பின்பு திருச்சியை அடைந்தோம்! அங்கே உறவினர் வீட்டுக்கு சென்று நீராடிவிட்டு தயாரானோம்! அடுத்து திருவரங்கதிற்கான பேருந்து தான்! "இதோ இப்பொழுதே உம்மை அழைத்து செல்கிறேன்" ஏன்னு கூறுமாபோலே விரைந்து வந்தது பேருந்து! மனதில் மீண்டும் உற்சாகம்!

காவிரி ஆற்றின் பாலம்! மீண்டும் அங்கிருந்து கோபுர தரிசனம்! திருவரங்கம் என்றால் என்ன என்பதை விளக்கும் விதமாக இருந்த அந்த இயற்கை காட்சி! எவ்வளவு அழகிய நகரம் திருவரங்கம்!

" வண்டின முரலும் சோலை

மயிலினம் ஆலும் சோலை

கொண்டல்மீ தனவும் சோலை

குயிலினம் கூவும் சோலை,

அண்டர்கோ னமரும் சோலை

அணிதிரு வரங்க மென்னா "

என்று அழ்வார் சாதித்தார்.

திருவரங்கம் சேர்ந்தோம்! தெற்கு ராஜகோபுர வாசலில் இறங்கினோம். ஒவ்வொரு கோபுரத்தை கடந்து "ஸ்ரீரங்கா ஸ்ரீரங்கா ஸ்ரீரங்கா" என்று இருக்கும் அந்த உத்தர வீதி கோபுரத்தை அடைந்தோம்! அங்கிருந்து திருக்கோவில் தொடக்கம். அழகிய மதில் சுவர்கள்!

முதலிலே கருடாழ்வார் சந்நிதி. இக்கோவில் கருடன் மூர்த்தி மிகவும் பெரிது! திருவரங்கம் என்றாலே பெரியது தான்! கோவிலோ பெரிய கோவில். பெருமாளோ பெரிய பெருமாள்! நாச்சியாரோ பெரிய பிராட்டியார். மண்டபமோ பெரிய திருமாமணி மண்டபம். உற்சவமோ பெரிய திருநாள். இது மூன்றாம் பிரஹாராம்! அங்கிருந்து ஸ்ரீரங்க நாச்சியார் சந்நிதி. அங்கே 5 குழி 3 வாசல் சேவை! அருகே சேஷராயர் மண்டபம், ஆயிரம்கால் மண்டபம் சொர்க்க வாசல் மற்றும் வெள்ளை கோபுரங்களின் அழகை ரசித்துகொண்டோம்! பின்பு வலம் செய்து முதல் பிரகாரத்தை அடைந்தோம். அங்கே தெற்கு கோபுர வாசல் - "நாழிகேட்டான் வாசல்" .

கிளி மண்டபம்/அர்ஜுனா மண்டபத்தை கடந்தால் அழகிய மணவாளன் சந்நிதி. வாசலிலே ஜெயன்-விஜயன் த்வாரபாலகர்கள்.

நாயகனாய்நின்ற நந்தகோப னுடைய

கோயில் காப்பானே ! கொடிதொன்றுன் தோரண

வாயில் காப்பானே !

என்ற பாசுரம் நினைவுக்கு வந்தது.

அடுத்தது பெரிய பெருமாளின் சேவை! அவரே பெரிய பெருமாள். அவரே அழகிய மணவாளன். அவரே ரங்கராஜன். இவ்வையத்தை படைத்தவன். நான்முகக்கடவுள் பிரம்மாவை படைத்தவர்! அவ்வளவு ஆச்சர்யமான சேவை! ஸ்ரீரங்கநாதன் கிடந்த திருக்கோலம்!

குடை திசை முடியை வைத்து, குண திசை பாதம் நீட்டி

வட திசை பின்பு காட்டி, தென் திசை இலங்கை நோக்கி !

என்ற பாசுரத்தின்படி சயணம்! அவரை கண்டாலே உடல் உருகி போகும்! அவ்வளவு அழகான திருமேனியை கொண்டவர்! பவள பாதகங்கள்! அஞ்சண வண்ணன்! கமலச்செங்கன்! அவருடைய பார்வை காவிரி ஆற்றை போன்றது! நம்மை அடித்து சென்றுவிடும் அதற்காக அவர் சந்நிதி முன் இரண்டு தூண்கள்!

கூடவே உற்சவ மூர்த்தியான நம்பெருமாளின் சேவை! அழகையே உருவமாக கொண்டவர்!

எழில் உடைய அம்மனைமீர் ! என்னரங்கத்து இன்னமுதர்

குழலழகர் வாயழகர் கண்ணழகர் கொப்பூழில்

எழுகமலப் பூவழகர்

என்று அவர் அழகை வர்ணிக்கும் பாசுரம்.

நம்பெருமாளின் திருமேனியிலே ரத்னங்கள். திருமுடி மேல் பாண்டியன் கொண்டை! நேற்றிலே அழகிய கஸ்துரி திலகம்! திருமுடியிலிருந்து திருவடிவரை வர்ண தோமாலை!

பின்பு அந்த பிராகாரத்தை வளம் வந்தால் ஸ்ரீரங்க விமானம். அர்ச்சுதன், அநந்தன் மற்றும் கோவிந்தனை கொண்ட ஓம் வடிவதொடே இருக்கக்கூடிய ப்ரனவாக்கார விமானம். மேலும் துலுக்க நாச்சியார் சந்நிதியும் கண்டோம்.

இவ்வளவு வைபவம் கொண்ட திவ்ய தேசத்தை விட்டு புறப்பட தான் வேண்டுமோ? என்ற எண்ணம் மனதில் !

இச்சுவை தவிர யான் போய் இந்திர லோகம் ஆளும்

அச்சுவை பெறினும் வேண்டேன், அரங்கமா நகருளானே !

என்று ஆழ்வார் சாதித்தார் அங்கேயே இருந்து விட முடியாதா?

என்னால் இயன்றது திரும்பும்பொழுது ராஜகோபுரத்தையே பார்ப்பது தான்!

- ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணன்

Left – Right

2009-10-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Nature loves symmetry! Human body is symmetrical. The left and right halves of the human body are mirror images with respect to each other. Though the left and right parts look alike, their internal composition is not symmetrical. So the left and right parts have different roles to play.

So, it is up to us, to decide as to which part as to be used first. Left or right?

When I was young, my relatives would ask me to step out if the house by first using the LEFT leg, and then the right leg. It was very funny hearing them say that! What if I keep my right leg first? Why left leg first? I got the answer years later and I write a blog on that!

The scene of relative asking me to step out in that manner and me questioning that repeated in a new form. Binary search tree! For searching an element in a binary tree, check if the number is less than the root first. If yes, move to LEFT sub-tree, or else right sub-tree. Why should I check if the number is less than the root first and not the other way round, even though the probability is equal?? Same situation right?

The reason is here-

The human brain has two sides – LEFT brain and right brain. Though both are under one’s control, they perform different tasks.

The left brain uses logic, but right brain uses feeling. The left brain is detail oriented, whereas right brain is “big picture” oriented. Facts rule in the case of left, whereas it is the imagination for right. Left brain concentrates on words and languages, whereas right brain concentrates on symbols and images.

Left deals with science, whereas right deals with religion and philosophy. Left brain says “play safe” whereas right brain says “Take risks”

"Our personality can be thought of as a result of the degree to which these left and right brains interact, or, in some cases, do not interact. It is a simplification to identify "left brain" types who are very analytical and orderly. We likewise certainly know of the artistic, unpredictability and creativity of "right brain" types. But each of us draws upon specific sides of our brain for a variety of daily functions, depending on such things as our age, education and life experiences. The choices of which brain is in control of which situations is what forges our personalities and determines our character." (- Internet)

So if our tasks have to be accomplished successfully, it is recommended to use left leg first. And that is the very reason why soldiers march saying “LEFT RIGHT LEFT”

For passing an object from one person to another, RIGHT hand has to be used. But for donating objects, both the hands have to be used! These two statements can also be explained scientifically and is behind my scope of reasoning.

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

To love is nature !

2009-09-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

It is natural for any human to evade from appreciating nature! Though at some point of time or the other, one will definitely do it! For some, it comes soon, but for many it only comes late.

What I want to stress here is, since everyone is a part of nature, everyone must also know to appreciate it. It costs nothing. We must learn to distinguish between the terms “Natural” and “Artificial”. When we have distinguished between the two, half the job is over! “Waterfalls” is natural whereas a Fountain is artificial [repeated line] Coconut water is natural, Pepsi is artificial, Moon is natural, Sputnik is artificial.

Also, any natural thing has got better advantages over Artificial or I could also say Artificial things are dangerous sometimes [depends]. Any natural process in this world takes place from a higher potential to a lower potential. And therefore all natural creations on this world take place in a smooth way. Nature does not allow any artificial events to happen just because it is nature.

And when humans try to do any artificial creations or any act against nature, they spend a lot of energy. Energy is required only because it is against nature. Like, planting a tree [without any energy] and cutting down a tree to pieces [with so much of energy]. For dropping an object you need not spend energy, but for lifting it you ought to! That’s the law of nature!

Nature turns things at higher potential to lower potential to maintain a balance, but foolish humans try to turn things upside down! There was recent news saying that the American Government has installed artificial waterfalls. It is installed in many rivers beds. What happens there is water is pumped from the river to a tank placed at great height! Great height! Great Height! Great height of foolishness! And then water is again made to fall from that height back to the same river. Though they need not spend energy for making water fall from that height, they need to spend power to make water go up! They spend a few Kilojoules energy each minute and when you convert that to dollars, it is a big sum!

Nature knows how to take care of us, provided we take care of it. We are supposed to enjoy nature and not disturb it! Some of the nature lovers articles reveal that they become calm and composed after having a look at a beautiful scenery. They say there is a drastic change in the human brain activities after it.

Some of the best scenes I witnessed and that I cannot forget -

i) View of icy mountains in Badrinath that changed its colour to gold because of the reflection of the sunlight

ii) View of Srirangam Rajagopuram from other end of Kaveri River, surrounded by many tall coconut trees, and birds flying high.

iii) View of the river Bhagirathi/Alakananda from the hills at a great height

Lord Krishna does not show any interest to things that are not in its usual form. He likes butter but not buttermilk! “Aaratha vennai vizhingi, Arigiruntha moraar kudam orutti mun kidantha thamathe!” It says, he consumes a lot of butter, wheras all the buttermilk pots are made to roll all over the floor!

Let’s salute nature. Let’s appreciate nature.

Please do send your comments!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Manishan ah ??? Machine ah???

2009-08-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

A hectic week ! Compiling all the lab programs one by one. Sorting out all the runtime errors and logical errors in the program ! Finishing the formatting work ! Getting the output verfication from the respective lab incharge ! Compiling the program again in the laptop @ house ! Copying the output from the console to a word document ! Taking out the printouts ! Finishing the record work!

I can tolerate with all the above ! But I really got upset when my Laptop was protesting ! It refused to obey my commands! Really irritating ! Felt like giving a big bang on it ! But what to do ? All my work is dependent on this Laptop of mine. Have to take care of its health too. When my LT (Laptop) goes off, I also go off.

It appears so foolish to me when I take care of my LT so much and I do not even speak freely with my parents !

* When my mother was not feeling well, I did not have time to even go to the medical shop to buy her medicines (instead my father went) ! But when there was a virus attack, I had to immediately upgrade my Anti-Virus and battle against the virus !

* I have never invited my father or my mother to sleep in the AC room! But I had to place a chair for my LT inside the AC room so that it is under a cool environment ! (My LT gets hot so quickly)

* I have never asked a question "Have you taken your food ?" to my parents ! But every time I am with my LT, I keep monitioring the charge available with it and when /i have to charge it.

* I have not even bought any gift for my parents for any occasion ! On the other hand , I keep searching for new updates available on the NET frequently!

* I dont even see my parents' face as frequently as I see my LT's monitor. After all a thing invented by Man and still I am a slave to it ! Just seeing a few engineering materials in a assembled form ! And I have to pay heed to it ! Disgusted !

And with so much devotion to my LT, what all will I gain in return ?? All kinds of health problems ... and nothing else..

Hope the situation changes soon.....

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Water Cycle - Teacher

2009-08-14T09:51:00.001-07:00

“Aazhi Mazhai(K) Kannaa Onru Nee Kai Karavel

Aazhi Ul Pukku Mugandhu Kodu Aarthu Eri

Oozhi Mudhalvan Uruvam Pol Mey Karuththu(P)

Paazhii Am Tholudai(P) Parpanaaban Kaiyil

Aazhi Pol Minni Valamburi Pol Ninru Adhirndhu

Thaazhaadhe Saarnga Mudhaiththa Sara Mazhai Pol

Vaazha Ulaginil Peydhidaay Naangalum

Maargazhi Neeraada Magizhndhelor Empaavaai”

A beautiful Tamil poem that would describe Water Cycle! Read it once and I decided to write a blog on it immediately!

Let me translate the Tamil poem line by line! It should be very interesting!

Aazhi Mazhai(K) Kannaa Onru Nee Kai Karavel

“Aazhi Mazhai(K) Kannaa” refers to the rain God!. “Onru Nee Kai Karavel” – Do not miss out anything! It means “You should make sure without exception that the entire land gets a good uniform rainfall regularly!” [Such is the noble soul of the poet]

Aazhi Ul Pukku Mugandhu Kodu Aarthu Eri

“Aazhi” stands for Sea. So the line means “Enter the sea and take lots of water” [Evaporation]

Oozhi Mudhalvan Uruvam Pol Mey Karuththu(P)

This refers to the cloud formation! The poet describes how dark the clouds should be – “Oozhi Mudhalvan Uruvam”. It refers to Lord Krishna who has a very dark skin. So the poet wants the clouds to become as dark as Lord Krishna! “Oozhi Mudhalvan means the sole savior and the material and instrumental cause of this universe! [Cloud Formation]

Paazhii Am Tholudai(P) Parpanaaban Kaiyil

The above line describes how strong the shoulders of “Oozhi Muthalvan” are. “Am Thol” means beautiful skinned shoulders! [To be read along with the next line as something special exist in his hands]

Aazhi Pol Minni, Valamburi Pol Ninru Adhirndhu

The next is the symptoms of rain. “Aazhi Pol Minni” – Here “Aazhi” refers to the discus that Lord Krishna has in his right hand. Here the poet requests the God of Rain to shine like the discus in Lord Krishna’s hands. [Lightening] Then, “Valamburi Pol Ninru Adhirndhu” – Valamburi is the conch that Lord Krishna has in his other hand. Here, she requests for the clouds to reverberate. [Thunder]

The poem is “Aazhi Pol Minni [lightening], Valamburi Pol Ninru Adhirndhu”[thunder] and not the other way round! It is because of the fact that light travels faster than sound! [light – 3 x 10^8 m/s, sound – 330 m/s]

Thaazhaadhe Saarnga Mudhaiththa Sara Mazhai Pol

Obviously, the next process is the rain! Saarngam is the bow that Lord has! And the poet wants rain down like the arrows shot from His bow! [Raining]

Vaazha Ulaginil Peydhidaay Naangalum

The poet also clarifies clearly that there should be heavy rain, but that should not cause floods. “Vaazha Ulaginil Peydhidaay” – Rain should satisfy all the people’s need.

Maargazhi Neeraada Magizhndhelor Empaavaai

Continuing from the last line, only after the world is happy (Vaazha Ulaginil Peydhidaay) the poet wants to enjoy! [Naangalum Marargazhi Neerada Magizhnthu] and the poet enjoys the bath in the river. Therefore, the complete water cycle is narrated in just 8 lines!

Very interesting poem right? And to all your surprises, this poem was composed by a 5 year old girl of 6th century! Just imagine what a 5 year old would say today, when asked about Water Cycle! The reply would be – OUT OF SYLLABUS! By this, I am only trying to justify the poet’s extreme intelligence and love for this planet!

The letter "zha" is specific only to Tamil. No other languages has that! The poet has used "zha" 12 times in the above poem! This also shows how good the poet was!

The above explanation does not covey the inner meanings of the poem! The inner meanings of the poem are as follows:

A guru or a teacher or an Acharyan is the one who is full of knowledge. He is the one who performs the ordained duties without fail and sheds tears of joy. Just like how a cloud takes away pure water from the salty waters of the ocean and showers it as cool potable water, an Acharyan preaches all good deeds to his students [Sishyas]. Similar to how the clouds tend to move with breeze and cause rains at different places, so does an acharyan move from place to place and cause rain of wisdom and truths. Just like a water bearing cloud, an Acharya is one who gives knowledge but does not expect anything in return. Thus, more than the water cycle explanation, the above explanation is given more credits!

Hope it was interesting. Please send your comments….

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

What God expects………….!

2009-07-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

A new post after two weeks! I was thinking deeply as to what my next post should be on. But nothing reached my mind.

Always the following holds good – when you decide to plan something at the moment, it is just not possible to make out. So what is to be done is, stop thinking about it and feel free. A bell may ring at any point of time when you are relaxed, and then you may implement your idea! And that’s how I decided to write a blog on this topic! – “What God expects”

And let me also explain why I chose this particular topic or what made me to choose this topic.

As I was getting bored during my 35 km long and tiresome bus journey from my college campus to my place, I had no other go but to watch the outside world out through the window.

And when the bus was just crossing Padur, [near Kelambakkam], my eyes chose something different to look at. And that was the sight of a few people engaged in a social practice. “TOTALLY DIFFERENT” I would say! And that was going on my mind till I realized that, my stop was not too far away and it was time for me get down! And when I was taking the road from my stop to my house, I decided to write a blog!

A blog, on the incident that really made me think as to why those people where indulging in such activities! Activities that they claim would fulfill their master’s [GOD] wishes!

And I tell you, it is just not possible to narrate what they were doing, but all that I can do is to show you a picture which is similar to that. And here it is:

That sight really brought mixed thoughts into my mind. And I really could not bear, seeing them “hurting themselves”, in the name of religion and in the name of God.

But am sure that people reading this blog of mine are likely to think that I am an Atheist! NO!!! Let me clarify that here. I do believe in God! And I also feel proud for the same because one who believes in God also loves Science. After all science is just a tool used to explain the term “GOD”!

All that I can say about that is that they [the villagers] did not find time to realize that God does not expect all that from his devotees! Causing trouble to oneself will definitely not please God. And such activities and practices will only lead to their hospitalization! And God is also not cruel to impose such rules for His devotees to follow!

All that he expects from us is to be a sincere devotee and only that! There are so many ways by which we may “IMPRESS” Him. We may feed the poor, we may contribute money to charitable trusts, and we may respect our elders and follow their footsteps. According to Vedas, a man has to spend at least 1/16^th of his income for charity. And so God is really impressed when we follow all these. So what is the need of punishing ourselves?

Having created this wonderful world, He knows all the difficulties that each person faces. This is evident from the following incident [in Mahabharatha] i.e. Vidhurar was so happy to see Lord Krishna in his house. He almost forgot everything around him. Firstly, he took a deep glance at Lord Krishna, starting from His feet, the two holy feet which takes care of all the suffering of human beings.

And then he decided to serve Lord Krishna with whatever that was available with him. But he had only bananas! And so he offered bananas to him. Vidhurar was asked by Him as to what he would request to Him after serving him with bananas, and the reply from his side was “to eat some more!” And that is what I would call devotion! And Vidhurar having lost his mind completely was giving the fruits’ skin, instead of the fruit, and Lord Krishna was extremely happy to take them too!

God knows who his true devotees are! It is said that when you become his true devotee, he becomes your devotee!

So, I appeal to all viewers to refrain from such activities. Instead we can work on things such as helping the poor, supporting a poor child’s education etc. Lets be His devotees! Let’s praise His creation! Let’s appreciate nature and worship him! After all, that’s all he expects!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

What Nano Technology taught me……………!

2009-07-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is my first ever post in these ‘blogs’. So I am not a professional or an expert in writing blogs.…Why I say that at first is, you can just close this window if you feel that this useless fellow has no other job than writing some ‘idiotic’ and ‘senseless’ blogs or in short a ‘mokkai’... J So I warn friends! Please do close this window if you feel so!

So that’s the introduction, as to what I am gonna discuss here. But I repeat! Please do close this window if you feel so, right now. And I also do not want you to say “I have really wasted time reading your blog!”. But please note that I am not going to discuss the engineering part of it.. So then it must be interesting only…:P

Fine… So that’s ok… I can get into my topic now… So the topic says ‘What nano technology taught me’. So then it’s my duty to first define what nano technology is… The term ‘nano technology’ is a little abrupt term. Why I call that abrupt is, the words do not convey the full meaning, as any teacher would expect precise answer from students.

The word is just like the word ‘Oorugai’. Does the word ‘Oorugai’ convey full meaning to you? No right??.. Because, is it “Oorina Kai” or “Oorugindra Kai’ or “Oorapogum Kai”. Similarly, the word Nano technology can be taken in these ways – Is it the technology of making products of nano scale??? Then how are we going to handle such small particles… So the catch is we are gng to produce items with nano particles to make the product with better properties and features.

So that’s the definition part of it. And its study is important because many natural forms are only in nano scale... What about the human cells…. They are in nano scale and its malfunctioning can lead to various diseases.

The concept of nano technology is also well discussed in Indian literature part… especially in Tamil…i.e. “Kanninun Siruthambinal kattunnappanniya perumayan” Lord Krishna was tied to a pillar by Yasoda. He increased his belly size and all ropes got detached. Thus Yasoda was highly troubled and she wanted to cry in front of Krishna so that he could understand her plight. After having seen that, Krishna allowed himself to get tied, but to a special rope which is “Kanninun Siruthambu” i.e. a very small rope with very little knots. So that’s just to tell how Krishna was tied to a nano rope… Interesting right?? Am happy J

All that’s okay.. But the topic is “What nano technology taught me” And I have not touched even a bit on that! Having said all this, I must quickly come to the point… The above paragraphs s just like adding water for preparation of noodles….Yet to use masala to make it tastier… So ill start….

As said earlier, nano particles, are particles of the nano scale, used to prepare products of great properties and characteristics.…. Thus, the nano particles are of such small sizes and can perform wonders! Yes!!!!! WONDERS!! They can turn ‘colourless’ objects into colourfull substances! They can covert fuel to a poison, render an inedible substance edible, replace a pungent odour with a fragnant one and so on…. Such small particles having great consequences!! And I want you to realize that, and appreciate all that is said above! I mean about nano particles and not my words! After all...they are ordinary words and my words are not energetic and sufficient enough to completely appreciate them! So assume that I have not even shown you a drop from the ocean! The rest is up to you to imagine…..

All right…. So then, what was taught to me by Nano technology???? -And another point here… All poets personify various things to show their skill in writing poems….But now that I have said “What nano technology has taught me”, does it mean I am giving it human qualities, and I am making it speak and teach me??? So does it mean I am a good poet?? No way!!! So then, I should have put the title as “What I learnt from Nano technology” right…? Thought about that for a while and again changed the title back. Why??? Because of the occurrence of the letter “I” in that. Never should one think “I did it, it was all possible because of me etc…” They are dangerous statements capable of pushing one to the most pathetic position that the person would have not even imagined. So the moral here is that it was not me who learnt from Nano technology, but the other way round….

The first thing I was told was, “Never think things that are small are ineffective” I have seen people in ma life who are extremely intelligent and loaded with stuffs to the maximum possible extent and are short”. Here the adjective ‘short’ is just one among the adjectives used. The shortness is definitely not a cause for concern.

“Moorthy sirusa ka irunthalum Keerthy Perusu” goes a tamil saying! Meaning, the moorthy is small i.e. the figure being talked about and keerthy refers to the knowledge. Just appreciate the saying as to how it supports the very concept of Nano Technology! J And that’s why I really respect tamilians. Their various sayings have a brilliant scientific background! Another example is the saying “Pon kidaithalum, Bhutan Kidaikkathu!”. “Pon” is gold! Gold was a rarity in those days! And that’s why they lead a happy life! They were never greedy of money and gold… But time has changed and now we see lots of ‘greedy’ people shopping in “Thanga Maligai” under the false belief that buying gold on “Akshay Trithya” day, will result in down pouring of gold coins from the ceiling! Never shall it happen! The least thing that can happen is the complete failure of foundation and collapse of ceiling! There were great mahans who led a peaceful life without a penny in their hand! Continuing with the explanation for the saying, we are left with the other part – “Bhutan Kidaikkathu”. “Bhutan” here does not refer to Wednesday! It refers to the planet “Mercury”. So the complete essence of the saying is that “It is even possible to get gold, but not mercury!” I am fond of this particular saying as it establishes the fact that it is impossible to spot Mercury, the planet with naked Eyes!” Tamilians had discovered this particular fact long back even before NASA scientists could do! This accounts for their immense knowledge in Astro-physics!

The second thing is “Uyarvu enbathu manathil iruppathu, Udalil iruppathalla!” Meaning, we need to be a taller person, not wrt to height, but wrt our qualities! A tall person with no good qualities is just like an animal that knows nothing! You can call a person tall if he is bestowed with all good qualities!

So that’s it with this particular blog! I shall definitely try to make a better one next time! Please feed in your comments…….!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan